If there’s one thing I’ve learned growing up and living in San Antonio, it’s that I love the men and women of the U.S. military.
And here is a hell of a film.
It shows the sacrifice of deployment.
But more than that.
It digs deeper.
It gets at a very peculiar feeling.
Readjustment.
And redeployment.
Have you ever felt like you are unwanted?
It’s the weird things the brain does.
This film specifically deals with the trouble of deploying and leaving behind a young child.
If you go to Afghanistan (as in this movie), you can’t take your family.
Korea, yes.
Afghanistan, no.
Maggie Swann is gone for 15 months.
Her son is five when she comes back.
He doesn’t remember.
The brain is growing.
Changing rapidly.
It is traumatic.
Too much change.
Go live with mom now.
Not easy for a little kid.
Ah!
But I forgot one salient detail.
Maggie Swann is divorced.
And her ex-husband watches Paul while she’s gone.
But there’s another catch.
Another woman.
Who becomes like a mother.
And this is what tears at Maggie Swann.
While serving her country as an Army medic, 15 precious months disappear.
She has done the right thing for her country.
But her reward is a son who barely knows her.
She doesn’t have much to come back to in El Paso.
At Fort Bliss.
This is some real shit.
Whataburger on the roadside.
Strip club.
Gun store.
Base housing.
And finally…a house.
Temporarily.
Orders.
Claudia Myers did an excellent job here.
Don’t make propaganda.
Just tell the truth.
Well done.
Show what is not usually shown.
But this film equally needed the amazing acting talents of Michelle Monaghan.
Monaghan plays Staff Sergeant Swann.
Makes us think Proust.
Excellent performance.
Tour of duty.
Gut-wrenching.
Takes everything you’ve got.
Way to look at life.
Second tour of duty.
All of the actors do a great job here.
The thing I took away from this film is to have courage.
And also that it is so important to have someone back home to think of.
When in battle, it is so important to have someone to be fighting for.
-PD
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